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This Keto Sheet Pan Pizza is a delicious twist on an old classic. A low-carb sausage crust is topped with cheese and lots of delicious toppings.
Who can resist a hot, homemade, pizza gooey with melted cheese and topped with onions and sweet peppers? Not us!
Our Keto Sheet Pan Pizza with Sausage Crust is sure to please the low-carb fans at your table. But even if you aren’t following a keto diet yourself – you’ll love this fantastic pizza too!
We used a three-cheese blend of shredded mozzarella, Parmesan, and cream cheese. Then we combine that with sauteed vegetables and spinach for toppings. The ingredients are baked on a crust made from a combination of coconut flour, almond flour, Parmesan, mozzarella, and sweet Italian sausage. Yes – This recipe tastes just as amazing as it sounds.
Why this recipe works
Our goal in developing this recipe was to come up with an original, easy, keto pizza dough that was high in fat, low in carbs, and moderate in protein — the ideal nutritional macros for any keto recipe.
After reading through dozens of keto pizza recipes, many were made using almond flour as the base (aka ‘fathead’ pizza), others used raw, ground chicken for the crust, and still others used cooked chicken. They all seemed good, but they suffered from a similar issue in that the amount of fat included was low, and really didn’t fit the recommended keto recipe proportions.
Our keto pizza checks all of the keto boxes along the way thanks to sweet Italian sausage crust as the base, with low-carb almond and coconut flours to bind it together. Topped with cheese and vegetables – this pizza has the ideal balance of macros with all of the mouthwatering flavors you want.
Why You’ll Love our Keto Sheet Pan Pizza with Sausage Crust
- It’s delicious. Who doesn’t love sausage and cheese topped with veggies and more cheese?
- The macros are in step with your keto goals. You never knew keto could taste so good!
- Delicious leftovers. Just pop the extra slices into an airtight container and store in the fridge.
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
- Sausage – Use sweet Italian sausage with the casings removed, or buy bulk Italian sausage. If you prefer things a little spicier, use hot Italian sausage instead. We’ve been asked a lot about swapping in ground turkey, chicken, or beef – and you can, but the texture, flavors and macros will be different. You’ll also need to add additional seasonings to the crust since these meats lack the same flavor of sausage.
- Almond and Coconut Flour – These flours are important for texture and keep the carb count low as well. If you do choose to use a different flour, do a little reading to find a quality substitute that won’t compromise your flavor or carb levels.
- Cheese – What would pizza be without cheese? We use mozzarella and freshly grated Parmesan. These go in the crust to help the sausage and other ingredients bind, and they are also used as toppings too.
- Homemade Pizza Sauce – We made our keto pizza with our easy no-cook Homemade Pizza Sauce, leaving out the sugar to keep the macros in line. You can also use a keto-friendly jarred sauce.
- Toppings – These are a matter of preference of course, but choose veggies with great flavor and low carbs for your toppings. We chose peppers, onions and spinach.
Special Supplies Needed
- A quarter sheet pan or shallow baking dish that measures 13 x 9 inches. You could use a slightly larger pan – the pizza crust will be thinner though.
How do you make Keto Pizza with a sausage crust?
- Mix the Dough. After preheating the oven, remove the sausage from its casings. Then mix all of the crust ingredients together in a bowl until well combined.
- Bake the Crust. Press the crust onto a greased quarter sheet pan, creating an even edge of crust around the sides of the pan. At this point, you want the crust to be somewhat firm, so pop it into the fridge for 30 minutes or so before you bake it if needed.
- Prep and Saute the Veggies. While the crust bakes, prepare your toppings. Chop your onions and peppers. Then saute them in olive oil, adding the spinach right at the end so it just wilts. Remove your pan from the heat and set it aside until you’re ready to assemble the pizza.
- Top and Bake. After the first bake, top the crust with pizza sauce, then with those yummy veggies. Cover the entire pizza with more cheese, then bake. (We like our cheese nice and gooey and golden, so after 25 minutes of baking, we broiled it for just a bit to give the topping that nice golden caramelized color.)
- Serve and Enjoy! Cut your pizza into eight slices and enjoy it hot out of the oven.
Frequently asked Questions
- Can I use regular or self-rising flour in the recipe? No. Since this is a low carb recipe, using regular flour would require many other alterations. Stick with the coconut and almond flour for this one.
- Does keto pizza freeze well? Yes. After the pizza is cool, simply wrap any leftovers tightly in plastic and place in the freezer.
- Can I use a different kind of meat such as ground beef in this recipe? We haven’t tried different meats ourselves, but it should work. You’ll want to add extra seasonings, since the sausage has more flavor than other meats. Also be aware that using a different type of meat will alter the keto macro balance, but by all means, try it out and see how you like it.
This post originally appeared on A Family Feast in April 2019. We’ve made some updates to the post but the delicious recipe remains the same.)
You may enjoy these other keto recipes:
- Baked Western Omelet {Keto, Low-Carb}
- The Best 90-Second Keto Bread
- Chicken Tender Sauté
- Keto Bread
- Baked Sausage Egg Cups
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Keto Sheet Pan Pizza with Sausage Crust
Nutritional Information for this recipe is provided at the bottom of this recipe card. Scroll down.
Ingredients
Dough
1/2 pound sweet Italian sausage, removed from casings
2 tablespoons cream cheese
1 cup almond flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 whole large eggs
Toppings
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced
1 medium Bell pepper sliced, (any bell pepper, green, red, yellow or orange)
8 ounces baby spinach
2 tablespoons fresh garlic passed through a garlic press
1/2 cup pizza sauce (leave out the sugar)
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a medium bowl mix uncooked sausage meat, cream cheese, almond flour, coconut flour, 1 ½ cups mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese and eggs.
Spray a quarter sheet pan (13×9-inch) with kitchen pan spray.
Press the mixture into the pan making an even edge all the way around.
NOTE>…If mixture is not cold, refrigerate the filled pan for 30 minutes to firm up the crust before baking.
Bake 12 minutes, turning pan half way through baking.
While crust is baking, in a medium skillet with the olive oil over medium heat, saute onions and peppers for ten minutes until slightly soft. Add spinach and cook one minute to wilt.
Add garlic and remove from heat.
When crust comes out of oven, spread pizza sauce on bottom, top with cooked vegetables from pan, sprinkle on cheddar and mozzarella and bake for about 25 minutes, or until browned and melty. Place under the broiler for a minute if you desire it to be more browned.
Cut into eight portions and serve.
Last Step! Please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Kathryn says
Will this recipe work without the sausage?
Martha says
The sausage is a pretty big component of the crust, so no, you can’t just leave it out without swapping in something else to bind the ingredients together.
Susan Hidlebaugh says
Was very good. Will make it again, adding a bit of oregano or Italian seasoning to the sauce. Did not use bell pepper because I don’t like them, but added sliced sautéed mushrooms and black olives. My husband gave it two thumbs up!
Martha says
Thanks Susan!
Sharon says
This sounds really good just wondering if I use ground Turkey will it lower carbs thank you for your recipe’s
Martha says
Hi Sharon – Unless you are using a sausage with lots of fillers, the carb count isn’t much different between sausage and ground turkey. Since sausage has more flavor and fat, if you swap in ground sausage you will likely want to make some other adjustments to the recipe since our original recipe includes ingredients in the crust that will absorb some of the sausage fat as it cooks. Hope that helps.
Lori Epting says
I made this last night and it was delicious! I used Italian chicken sausage. The chicken sausage wasn’t the easiest to remove from the casing and is a different consistency from other sausage so I put it in my mini chopper and processed it until crumbly. It was perfect and my very skeptical husband loved it!
Martha says
Hi Lori – Glad to know that chicken sausage will work too – and I appreciate the cooking tips!
Brenda says
I typically use Jimmy Dean sausage as my entire crust base. Just smashing it into the pan. Then adding all desired toppings. I even put pepperoni on (just because and why not)
I am looking forward to trying this version. Thank you for sharing it.
Martha says
We hope you enjoy the recipe Brenda!
Felica says
Love this recipe! Even my non low carb family members can’t get enough. Thank you for sharing.
Martha says
You’re very welcome Felica – So glad the recipe is a hit!
Mary says
2 questions….Not quite understanding what difference it makes to add the ingredients mentioned to the sausage mix. Would it not be basically the same if the eggs & flours, cheese were not added? To me it looks like a sausage bottom crust, when I took it out of the oven. And then it says after adding the topping, “bake 12 minutes turning pan half way through baking.” It’s in the oven…in what way was I to turn it? Didn’t make any sense to me. Someone please explain.
Martha says
Hi Mary – The egg, flour and cheese added to the sausage gives it more of a crust-like texture than just pressing sausage into the bottom of the pan – plus, sausage is fairly fatty so the flour especially will help absorb some of that.
In terms of turning the pan in the oven half way through baking- in our experience, most ovens are hotter toward the back so you might see the pizza top starting to brown in the back more toward the front of the oven. (And in our case, the left side of the oven is definitely hotter than the right.) It’s a fairly common step to include in baking recipes to ensure even browning and cooking – but if your oven is a consistent temp all around, then you can skip this step. It simply means turn or spin the pan around on the baking rack so that the half that was toward the back of the oven is now facing the front and vice versa. Hope that helps!
Lynnette says
EVERYONE! And do mean everyone! Keto and non keto members devoured this pizza!! It was so easy and came incredible! Thanks so much for sharing
Martha says
You’re very welcome Lynnette! Glad it was a hit all around!
Marymargaret Weirick says
Wondering if you could substitute ground turkey for the sausage? Thanks!
Martha says
Hi – We’ve only made the recipe as written. But ground turkey could work, although I suspect the crust might not be as firm. The sausage has more flavorings, as well as more fat so you’ll want to season the ground turkey and possibly buy a higher fat ground turkey (such as a mix of white and dark meat) if possible. Also – the carb count will be different so you’ll have to recalculate that too.
Angela Barron says
Great recipe but your site has become ad central and is too frustrating to navigate. Is there anyone else you could possibly sell out to? It was good while it lasted, so thanks.
Martha says
Thanks for your feedback Angela. We do run ads to offset the significant costs to develop recipes and host a website. The alternative would be to start charging you a fee to access our site, but we prefer to continue to provide free information to you and our other readers.